France to lift state of emergency
French President Jacques Chirac plans this week to lift the state of emergency declared during a three-week wave of rioting and arson attacks this autumn, his office said today.
The government is expected to formally approve the measure during a Cabinet meeting tomorrow, Chirac’s office said. The state of emergency is to be lifted the following day.
Youths, mostly from housing projects in France’s poor suburbs, set fire to some 9,000 vehicles during the unrest that broke out in late October. The government’s state of emergency allowed the use of curfews and other measures to stop the mayhem.
It was France’s worst civil unrest since student and worker protests in 1968.
France’s government was concerned the unrest would flare up again during New Year’s Eve celebrations, when rowdy youths typically torch several hundred cars.
Revellers burned 425 vehicles – up from 333 the year earlier – but there were no major clashes, and the national police chief said France had been spared a revival of the unrest.
